Though the phrase “grand jury” has authoritative connotations — like the gods of jurisprudence have issued a decree — the grand jury process has the potential to be seriously flawed. A grand jury makes the initial decision to indict (formally accuse) a criminal defendant to stand trial. But unlike a standard trial, a grand jury proceeding is cloaked in secrecy: grand juries aren’t open to the public, and the identity of the witnesses who testify and the content of their testimony are never disclosed. The special prosecutor of a grand jury calls the witnesses, questions the witnesses, and selects the evidence that is shown to the grand jurors, and grand jurors are normal, everyday citizens who have shown up for jury duty and been funneled to a grand jury.
一般来说,唯一的证人和证据法则vant by special prosecutors are presented to grand jurors, so special prosecutors are in a unique position to manipulate grand jurors’ judgments. Indeed, commenting about the influence a special prosecutor has over grand jurors in 1985, Sol Wachtler, a former chief appellate judge of New York state, famously quipped that a special prosecutor could persuade grand jurors to “
indict a ham sandwich.”
Though the PBPD had the statements of five Epstein victims and was aware of many others, Krischer recalls
calling only one of Epstein’s numerous victims to testify before the grand jury. Krischer had numerous victims who would’ve corroborated that victim, yet he opted not call them before the grand jury. In addition to Krishner, the grand jury was overseen by Assistant State Attorney Lanna Belohlavek, and it ultimately served the public a ham and swiss on rye, indicting Epstein on merely
one count of soliciting (adult) prostitution, and Kellen and Robson were exonerated of their reported crimes. The prosecutors cited “conflicting” accounts by victims as a rationale for not indicting Epstein on a single count of child abuse. One the conflicting accounts was extremely disingenuous: the prosecutors asserted that one of the victims said that
Epstein had deployed a purple vibrator when he abused her, but other victims had said that Epstein deployed a white vibrator during their abuse. Perhaps it never crossed the minds of Krischer and Belohlavek that Epstein used different vibrators when he molested his underage victims?
According to Joe Recarey, the lead PBPD detective on the Epstein case, Belohlavek wanted the charges against Epstein to “go away.” He said that she believed that the minors abused by Epstein weren’t victims, because they had accepted money from Epstein, even though the Florida statutes explicitly state that it is illegal for an adult to have sex with a minor who is under 18 years old.
“我被告知爱泼斯坦,属于智力to leave it alone.”
— Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida
The PBPD was outraged by the pretend justice orchestrated by Krischer and Belohlavek. The chief of the PBPD, Michael Reiter, characterized the grand jury proceedings as
“the worst failure of the criminal justice system”in modern times, and he brought the evidence that was accumulated by PBPD to the feds. But the justice Reiter sought from federal law enforcement quickly became pretend justice. An August 19, 2019
Daily Beastarticle reported that the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Alexander Acosta, who was responsible for overseeing Epstein’s adjudication, disclosed that he had been told to back down from the Epstein case:
“我被告知爱泼斯坦,属于智力to leave it alone,” Acosta said.
Acosta and the Justice Department engineered a “sweetheart” deal for Epstein in 2008. After the Justice Department took over the case,
Epstein was chargedwith one count of solicitation of prostitution and one count of solicitation of prostitution with a minor, even though the Justice Department had a list of
32 underage victims. He was sentenced to
18 months in the county jail, where he served 13 months. The assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting Epstein, Ann Marie Villafana, also
colludedwith an Epstein attorney to ensure that Epstein not only received this deal but a federal non-prosecution agreement that granted
immunity to all of his co-conspirators, including procurers and perpetrators.
The
Crime Victims’ Rights Actmandates that the Justice Department notify Epstein’s victims that his case was being adjudicated, but the Justice Department contravened that law: Epstein’s victims were notified after his sentence and
non-prosecution agreement had been finalized, so they were denied a dialogue with Epstein’s prosecutors and/or the opportunity to confront Epstein. In a further glaring injustice, the Justice Department attempted to ensure that the Epstein plea deal would remain forever secret by
sealingit.
Unfortunately, the Justice Department now appears to be in the midst of the final Epstein cover up by not indicting his network of procurers and perpetrators. In an August 29, 2019 article,
The New York Timesnames six “alleged” procurers in Epstein’s pedophile network —
Ghislaine Maxwell, Sarah Kellen, Leslie Groff, Adriana Ross, Nadia Marcinkova, and Haley Robson.
The Timesnotes that Maxwell “has been accused in several well publicized lawsuits regarding overseeing efforts to procure girls and young women…” The newspaper then quotes “two people with knowledge of the investigation”: “None of Mr. Epstein’s associates have been charged or named as co-conspirators in Manhattan. But federal authorities are eyeing possible charges that include sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy.”
The New York Timesprovided the Justice Department with six individuals who were purportedly complicit in Epstein’s pedophilic crimes. But in the subsequent months, none of Epstein’s “alleged” procurers were indicted. Several of Epstein’s victims — including
Maria Farmer,
Annie Farmer,
Virginia Guiffre,
Jane Doe,
Jane Doe 1000,
Priscilla Doe,
Jennifer Araoz, and
Sarah Ransome— have accused 57-year-old British socialite Maxwell of being a pimp or perpetrator.
Johanna Sjoberg, a college student Maxwell reportedly recruited for Epstein’s network, said Maxwell called the girls she recruited “slaves.”
According to a source cited in anAugust. 12, 2019
Vanity Fairarticleby Victoria Grigoriadis, Maxwell had contempt for the girls who became Epstein’s victims: “When I asked what she thought of the underage girls, she looked at me and said, ‘they’re nothing, these girls. They are trash.’” In an August 9, 2019
Guardianarticle, Maxwell is portrayed as particularly vicious:
A butler “witnessed, firsthand, a 15-year-old Swedish girl crying and shaking because [Maxwell] was attempting to force her to have sex with Epstein and she refused,” court documents filed by Giuffre’s lawyers claim. The girl allegedly said that Maxwell “tried to force her to have sex with Epstein through threats and stealing her passport.”
Shortly after Epstein’s apparent suicide the following day, August 10, 2019,
U.S. Attorney General William Barrpledged that Epstein’s child trafficking co-conspirators “should not rest easy.” The Justice Department’s investigation ostensibly proceeded through September, October, and November without a peep about Maxwell; then, finally,
“two law enforcement sources”told Reuters that the FBI was investigating Maxwell at the end of December. Reuters reported that the
“probe remains at an early stage.”
Though the Justice Department and FBI had law enforcement reports, reams of media reportage, and civil lawsuit documentation linking Maxwell to Epstein’s child trafficking enterprise, it seemed odd that the probe into Maxwell was at an early stage four-and-a-half months after Epstein’s death, considering the severity of her purported crimes. On Aug. 15, 2019, a week after Epstein’s death, an anonymous source sent
The New York Post a
麦克斯韦的照片分享一个汉堡、薯条、nd shake at an In-N-Out Burger in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County.However, a
Daily MailAugust 19, 2019 article reported that she was holed up in a
Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts mansion. A third account, published by
Sky Newson October 15, 2019, had her relaxing at a spa for the
well-heeled in Santa Catarina, Brazil.On January 1, 2020,
The New York Post’s
“Page Six”proclaimed Maxwell is a spy who has been ducking the FBI at Israeli “safe houses.” In a February 28, 2020 article,
Forbespublished innuendo that she may have been barricaded in a Colorado “compound.”
In this Aug. 27, 2019, photo, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, center, who says she was trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court where sexual assault claimants invited by a judge addressed a hearing following Epstein’s jailhouse death in New York. Prince Andrew suffered fresh scrutiny Monday night, Dec. 2, when the woman who says she was a trafficking victim made to have sex with him when she was 17 asked the British public to support her quest for justice. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
By the end of January 2020,
three additional womennamed Maxwell as a co-defendant in lawsuits filed against Epstein’s estate. Despite her shell-game whereabouts, Maxwell engaged a phalanx of
high-priced attorneys. They had been mum on her location, and attorneys representing Maxwell’s accusers had, as a last resort,
sent emails with an attached summonsto her only known email address. But a
response from Maxwellwasn’t forthcoming. In Feb 2020,
a federal judgeeven took the unorthodox tack of allowing Maxwell to be served with a lawsuit via an email through her attorneys, to no avail.
On July 2, 2020, the feds finally arrested Maxwell in New Hampshire.
She was ultimately indicted on six counts:conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of perjury. Although Maxwell was arrested, her indictments were a travesty of justice and an insult to her victims. Her indictments carried a collective maximum sentence of
35 years in prison.But victims’ accounts report that Maxwell was a child trafficker, and she should have been indicted on multiple counts of child trafficking, each count carrying a
15-year to life sentence. At long last, in March of this year,
Maxwell was also charged with child trafficking.But Epstein and Maxwell’s alleged cohorts, including Sarah Kellen, Leslie Groff, Adriana Ross, Nadia Marcinkova, Haley Robson, etc., haven’t been indicted.
Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre has publicly denounced Maxwell as an Epstein perp and a pimp, and
Maxwelllaunched a defamation lawsuit at her.
Giuffrecountered with a defamation lawsuit against Maxwell, because Maxwell declared that Giuffre was a liar. When the evidence against Maxwell became overwhelming,
The Miami Heraldreports that Maxwell compensated Giuffre “millions” of dollars to settle the lawsuit.
Maxwell and her attorneys have also waged a war to ensure that the documentation in the Giuffre defamation lawsuit remains sealed. Giuffre’s attorneys and
The Miami Heraldsought to unseal that documentation, but
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Sweetquashed their efforts. Giuffre’s attorneys and
The Miami-Heraldthen appealed the judge’s decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and
Judge Sweet’s ruling was overturned. Sweet passed away as his decision wended through the appellate process, and he was replaced by
Judge Loretta A. Preska.
As Judge Preska oversaw the case, the appellate court ruled that the “
judicial”documents generated by the defamation suit could be released to the public. Judge Preska inferred that
judicial文档将积分法官formal decision on the defamation lawsuit, and she sanctioned the release of about
2,000previously sealed documents. The trove of previously unsealed documents were incendiary.
In the defamation lawsuit, Giuffre accused the following men of being among her perpetrators:
过亚伦‧德修兹、安德鲁王子、前新墨西哥Governor Bill Richardson, billionaire Glenn Dubin, former senator George Mitchell, scientist Marvin Minsky, and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak
, Les Wexner. The rich and powerful men named by Giuffre issued
public denials, and that appeared to be the extent of their fates vis-à-vis federal law enforcement. The media has excelled at exhuming salacious dirt on Epstein–like his relationship with Bill Gates–but it does not seem to be particularly interested in investigating Giuffre’s latter round of accusations or ensuring that the procurers and perps in the Epstein case are brought to justice.
The men named by Giuffre as her perpetrators appear in Epstein’s “Black Book,” which is a Who’s Who of the Davos elite. I acquired the Black Book in 2012 and eventually shepherded it onto the Internet in 2015. But the prime mover of the Black Book surfacing was Alfredo Rodriquez, a former Epstein house manager. He purloined a copy of Epstein’s contacts, their addresses, and phone numbers before leaving
Epstein’s employ in 2005. The Black Book also contains the names of numerous victims.
In 2009,
Rodriquez’s grand planwas to hawk the Black Book to an attorney representing some of Epstein’s victims in civil lawsuits—his fee was $50,000. The
attorney in questionreported Rodriquez’s hijinks to the FBI, which snared Rodriquez and the Black Book in a sting. The FBI had previously interviewed Rodriquez, but he had said nary a word about the Black Book, so he was charged with federal
obstruction of justice. Rodriguez received an
18-month sentencefor that offense, the same sentence received by his former employer. Rodriguez, however, had to serve his sentence in a
federal prisoninstead of a county jail.
The assistant US attorney prosecuting Rodriguez was Ann Marie Villafana, and she did not veer from Justice Department’s pattern of disingenuousness. Villafana told the judge in Rodriguez’s case that his failure to yield the Black Book was a
lost opportunityfor the government’s Epstein investigation. But she neglected to mention that the Justice Department didn’t even need the Black Book to prosecute Epstein for pedophilic offenses, because it already possessed a list of
32 Epstein victims.
After the FBI busted Rodriguez attempting to peddle the black book, one of the arresting agents stated in an affidavit that the Black Book had the “
names and contact information of material witnesses…” Rodriguez had also circled several names in the Black Book, but the FBI affidavit does not delineate if the circled names are material witnesses. The circled names, however, include that of
Ghislaine Maxwelland that of
Sarah Kellen, two of Epstein’s
purported pimps.
Rodriguez also circled the name of
Alan Dershowitz, for whom Epstein had
11 phone numbers. In January of 2015, Giuffre named the former Harvard Law School professor and super-star lawyer
as a perpetratorin an affidavit filed by her attorneys Brad Edwards and former federal judge Paul Cassell. In the affidavit, Giuffre stated that she had sex with Dershowitz “
at least six times.” Dershowitz then mounted a scorched earth counteroffensive against Giuffre and her two attorneys. He proclaimed
Giuffre was a liar of the first magnitude. Dershowitz also declared that Giuffre’s attorneys were deliberately lying and vowed that he wouldn’t “
stop until they’re disbarred.” Edwards and Cassell sued
Dershowitz for defamation.
In this Wednesday, March 6, 2019 photo, Attorney Alan Dershowitz leaves Manhattan Federal Court in New York. A judge said a lawsuit can proceed to trial that accuses Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz of lying about his sexual history with a woman who claims she was a teenage victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. But U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska also on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019 granted Dershowitz’s request to disqualify the law firm representing the woman from the case. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
As Dershowitz was trading salvoes with Edwards and Cassell, he gave an interview to
The American Lawyerin January of 2015, vindicating himself as a perpetrator: “I’ve been married to the same woman for 28 years,” he said. “She goes with me everywhere. People know that I won’t argue a case or give a speech unless my wife travels with me.” But
Epstein’s flight logsshow that Dershowitz accompanied Epstein on a December 1997 flight from Palm Beach to New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport, and they were accompanied by one unidentified “female,” as well as a “Hazel,” a “Claire,” and Maxwell. A 2005 flight log shows Epstein and Dershowitz traveling from Massachusetts to Montreal with a “Tatianna,” et al. Dershowitz’s wife is noticeably absent on those flights and others. In the
Gawkerarticle I wrote about the flight logs, Dershowitz’s steal-trap mind became rather rusty:
As for who else was on those flights, Dershowitz couldn’t recall. Hazel? “I don’t know.” Claire? “I have no idea.” Tatianna? “I think that was a woman in her 20s who was Epstein’s girlfriend, but I never flew with her.” The unidentified female? “That could have been my mother.”
Dershowitz was the architect of Epstein’s 2008 plea bargain, and his strategy was to
firebomb the credibility of Epstein’s victims.
The New Yorkernotes his
vicious comments about Giuffre: “…he called her a ‘serial liar,’ a ‘prostitute,’ and a ‘bad mother,’ who could not be believed ‘against somebody with an unscathed reputation like me.’ He insisted that Giuffre had ‘made the whole thing up out of whole cloth,’ in search of ‘a big payday.” When a TV reporter in Miami questioned his characterization of Giuffre, a sex-abuse victim, as a ‘prostitute,’ Dershowitz replied, ‘She made her own decisions in life.’”
In 2018, a second woman, Sarah Ransome, who settled a civil lawsuit with Epstein and Maxwell, said that Epstein
directed her to have sex with Dershowitz.Dershowitz skewered her as a “
lunatic” and excoriated her ill-fated interactions with the
New York Post
.In 2016, Ransome told
The Postthat she had
sex tapesof sundry powerbrokers, including Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, but she never produced them. She later divulged to
The New Yorkerthat she had concocted the story on the tapes to focus public attention on Epstein’s illicit activities and also to provide a deterrent against retribution by him. In an April 2019 affidavit,
Maria Farmerstated that she was sexually assaulted by Epstein and Maxwell. She also stated that it was status quo for underage girls to be ushered to an upstairs bedroom to be interviewed for “modeling” positions and for Dershowitz to “head upstairs where the girls were present.”
“She made her own decisions in life.”
— Alan Dershowitz, attorney, after calling Virginia Giuffre a prostitute. Giuffre says she was recruited by Ghislane Maxwell to be Jeffrey Epstein’s masseuse when she was just 15, while she was working as a locker room attendant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club .
Dershowitz’s zealous stand is ether that of a good man preserving his reputation or that of the vile professor who doth protest too much. The lawsuit in which Dershowitz vowed to have Edwards and Cassell disbarred ended in a stalemate.
Edwards and Cassellissued a statement declaring that they continued to believe Giuffre but that naming Dershowitz “became a major distraction from the merits of the well-founded Crime Victims’ Rights Act case.” While Dershowitz’s vow of banishing Edwards and Cassell from the legal profession came to naught, he did express his views on adults having sex with adolescents in a
Los Angeles Timesop-ed: He proposed that the age of consent should be
15 years old, regardless of the partner’s age.
Epstein house manager Rodriguez did not circle Prince Andrew’s name. But Epstein had
16 phone numbersfor him, and Giuffre named him as a
pedophilic perpetratorin her 2015 affidavit. The prince has categorically denied Giuffre’s allegations and stated he has “
no recollection” of ever meeting her. In her
2015 affidavit, Giuffre swore she had sex with Prince Andrew three times and that one instance involved an orgy.
Her affidavit included the now infamous
photographof a smiling Prince Andrew with his arm around her waist and a smiling Maxwell in the background. Prince Andrew claimed to have no recollection of the photograph.
The BBC quotedthe prince discussing the photograph. “Nobody can prove whether or not that photograph has been doctored but I don’t recollect that photograph ever being taken,” he said, adding that “hug
and public displays of affection are not something that I do.”
像Dershowitz, Prince Andrew has attempted to disavow his friendship with Epstein. He declared that he and Epstein were “not that close,” yetThe Guardianreports that “the pair attended several private dinners, parties and fundraisers together, including a birthday party the prince threw for Maxwell at Sandringham House, the private residence of the Queen…” Andrew also flew on Epstein’s private plane atleast four times.
Feb. 12, 2012: Alicia Arden arrives on the red carpet at the 54th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Arden, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s first known accusers, says police didn’t take her complaint seriously in 1997 and blew the chance to bring the financier to justice long before he was charged with sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls and women. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
In 2001,Andrew and Epsteinwere pictured on a yacht off the coast of Thailand surrounded by topless young women; Epstein reportedly footed the bill for the prince’s Thai retreat. In 2006, Epstein made an appearance at Windsor Castle for the18th birthday party of Andrew’s daughter, Princess Beatrice. Epstein attended the partyafterthe Palm Beach Police Department executed a search warrant on his Florida home and sought to charge him withfour counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and lewd and lascivious molestation.
Rodriguez also circled the name ofJean-Luc Brunelin Epstein’s Black Book, and Epstein had16 phone numbersfor him. Brunel was the third perpetratorGiuffre named in her 2015 affidavit. Epsteinfinanced Brunel’s Miami-based modeling agency MC2, and Brunel was a frequent flyer on theLolita Express. Palm Beach County jail logs also show that he visited Epstein67 times when Epstein was ostensibly confined to the county jail for 13 months.The Daily Beastreported that Brunel, like Epstein, was an ethical eunuch: He has been “accused by former models of drugging and date-raping them, and by former employees of recruiting foreign, underage girls to be pimped out of Epstein’s New York apartments.”
Rodriguez circled the names ofBill Richardson, former New Mexico governor and also President Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Energy, and billionaireGlenn Dubin. Epstein hadfive phone numbersfor Richardson andeightfor Dubin. Giuffre named bothRichardson and Dubinas perpetrators.
Richardson was a visitor toZorro Ranch, Epstein’s spread in the rolling hills outside of Santa Fe, where Epstein reportedly hadunderage girlsdelivered. Epstein also contributed$100,000to Richard’s gubernatorial campaigns. When Richardson was governor, Epstein did not have toregister as a sex offenderin New Mexico, which breached federal law.
Hedge fund billionaireGlen Dubinhad a protracted friendship with Epstein, and his model-turned-medical-doctor wife,Eva Andersson(Dubin), had once dated Epstein. In fact, Rodriguezcircled Andersson’sname in the Black Book, too. After Epstein served his 13 months in the pokey,Glenn and Eva Dubininvited him to their home for Thanksgiving in 2009. Prior to that Thanksgiving, Andersson wrote anemail to Epstein’s probationofficer, stating that she and her husband were “100% comfortable” with Epstein being around their children, including their then-teenage daughter.
Rodriguez also circled the names of former Israeli Prime MinisterEhud Barakand L Brands potentate and billionaireLes Wexner.BarakandWexnerwere also named by Giuffre as perpetrators.Barakfrequently lodged at an Upper East Side apartment building owned by Epstein’s brother, and he even visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island—”Orgy Island.”In 2004, Barak received about $2.4 million from a foundation where Epstein was a trustee and major donor.And in 2015, Epstein reportedly invested $1 million in a technology start-up that Barak was launching.
Epstein and Wexner have a rather enigmatic relationship. In 1985,TheEveningStandardreports, the talented Mr. Epstein started to orbit Wexner. Epstein then became an increasingly ubiquitous force in Wexner’s corporate concerns. By 1991, Wexner conferred Epstein withpower of attorney over his vast empire, essentially giving Epstein the keys to his kingdom. Wexner’sfriends and colleagueswere perplexed by their mysterious relationship.
After Epstein’s arrest on July 6, Wexner wrote a letter to L Brand employees vowing that he was“NEVER aware of the illegal activity”charged in Epstein’s latest indictment. In early 2006, however, Palm Beach police charged Epstein with multiple counts of child molestation, but it took Wexner18 monthsafter the fact to ostensibly sever his connection to Epstein.
Despite their purported 2007 rupture, one of Wexner’s charitable foundations received a$56 million infusionfrom a trust linked to Epstein in 2011. Also in 2011, thedeed to Epstein’s Manhattan mansionwas transferred from a Wexner-owned concern to an Epstein company based in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Wexner, too, claims that he discoveredEpstein embezzled “vast sums” of moneyfrom him in 2007, but he never notified authorities.
Epstein had11 contact numbers for Donald Trumpin his Black Book, andRodriguez circled Trump’s name. Though Bill Clinton’s name isn’t circled in the Black Book, Epstein had21 contact numbers for him. Giuffre didn’t name either Trump or Clinton as a perpetrator, but Maxwell told a60 Minutesproducer that Epstein had “had tapes of Trump and Clinton.”
Giuffre named former Democratic Senate Majority LeaderGeorge MitchellandMarvin Minsky, a deceased Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and artificial intelligence pioneer, as her perpetrators. Although the names ofMitchell and Minskyare not circled in the Black Book, Epstein had13 phone numbersfor Mitchell andfive numbersfor Minsky.
In addition to collecting powerbrokers, Epstein had a penchant for clandestine cameras. When the Palm Beach police executed a warrant on Epstein’s home in 2006, they foundhidden cameras. An Epstein victim,Maria Farmer, told CBS Newsthat the bathrooms and bedrooms in Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion were wired for extensive surveillance by “tiny pinhole cameras.” Farmer said that Epstein even ushered her to the “media room”: “And so, there was a door that looked like an invisible door with all this limestone and everything,” she said. “And you push it, and you go in. And I saw, all the cameras, it was, like, old televisions basically, like, stacked.” In that interview, Farmer said that “men” sat before the monitors.
In theVanity Fairarticle noting Maxwell’s statement that the underage girls being molested were merely “trash,” she reportedly said that Epstein’s Orgy Island was equipped for extensive surveillance: “Maxwell also said theisland had been completely wired for video; the friend thought that she and Epstein were videotaping everyone on the island as an insurance policy, as blackmail.” In the same article,Vanity Fairgleaned an Epstein quote via a former “girlfriend”: “…I collect people, I own people, I can damage people.” Epstein himself boasted to aNew York Timesreporter that he had “dirt” on the powerful.
In the wake of Epstein’s arrest, theNew York Times报告联邦当局抓住了证据from searching Epstein’s house: “It included hundreds — possibly thousands — of sexually suggestive photographs of girls who appear underage, as well as hand-labeled compact discs with titles like ‘Girl pics nude,’ and, with the names redacted, ‘Young [Name] + [Name].’”
Epstein appears to have been a blackmail artist, but his marks would never voice that inconvenient truth. Blackmail marks, especially politicians and power brokers, have zero incentive to turn to the authorities if the blackmailer has pictures of their illicit, highly aberrant, or extramarital sexual conduct. Those pictures, released to the public, would doom their careers, probably destroy their families, and reduce their lives to public ignominy.
Epstein, however, as a lone college dropout from Coney Island, could not have blackmailed powerbrokers with impunity. Such men can have access to ruffians, murderers, and even organized crime. Les Wexner is an example of an alleged perpetrator who has had purported ties to organized crime. Wexner is a denizen of Ohio, and his L Brands is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.A 1991 report from the Columbus Division of Police (CDV) implicates Wexner in a 1985 murder and also discusses his possible affiliation with the organized crime.The report focuses on the execution style murder of Columbus attorney Arthur Shapiro whose law firm represented Wexner’s clothing empire. Shapiro took two bullets to the back of the head in broad daylight, and the CDV report notes that his murder had the distinct signature of “Mafia” hit. The CDV report that fingers Columbus’ most lionized citizen in a Mafia hit was ordered to be destroyed by CDV Chief James Jackson, who would be reprimanded for ordering the report’s destruction.
The CDV report describesWalsh Trucking Company, owned by Frank Walsh, as a “major trucking company for The Limited.” The CDV report also notesWalsh’s connection to the Mafia. A 1987Women’s Wear Dailyarticle states that “Walsh had done in excess of 90 percent of Limited’s business,” accounting for $73,600,000. And a 1996 article from Bergen County’sThe Recordchronicles Walsh’s guilty plea for bribing Teamster officials and mail fraud and that “federal prosecutors” had concluded Walsh was an appendage to the “Genovese” crime family.
Wexner had known sociopathic pedophile Epstein for approximately six years when he handed Epstein the keys to his kingdom. As I mentioned, the mysterious relationship between Wexner and Epstein befuddled his friends and colleagues. In August of 2019,Vanity Fairpublished an apologetic on behalf of Wexner, “‘HE PICKS THE WRONG FRIEND, THEN THERE’S ALL HELL TO PAY’: HOW JEFFREY EPSTEIN GOT HIS HOOKS INTO LES WEXNER,” which sought to explain the bizarre relationship between Wexner and Epstein. TheVanity Fairarticle was mind-boggling in either its seismic naivete or disingenuousness: The article determined that Wexner’s “loneliness” made him susceptible to being bamboozled by conman Epstein. But according to Virginia Giuffre and Alfredo Rodriguez, their relationship had far more sinister undertones. Although Wexner claims thatEpstein embezzled “vast sums” of moneyfrom him, he never notified authorities about Epstein’s grift. If loneliness drove Wexner to befriend Epstein, then common sense almost certainly dictates that Wexner would request law enforcement intervention to retrieve the “vast sums” purloined by Epstein. But if their relationship was rooted in the claims of Giuffre and Rodriguez, then Wexner’s actions, or lack thereof, would be understandable.
Child abuse is among the most heinous of crimes, but state and federal checks and balances that safeguard children from predators have been mutilated in the Epstein case for at least 25 years—from when the Farmer sisters initially approached the FBI in 1996 until the May of this year when the FDLE exonerated Florida law enforcement of malfeasance in the Epstein case. The ultimate question that needs to be asked and answered is why have state and federal authorities protected Epstein and his pack of child molesters for years? Blackmail may be one of the answers, and the evidence implicating Epstein as a blackmail artist is significant:
- Epstein’s confession to aNew York Timesreporter about the “dirt” he collected on the rich and powerful.
- The statements he made to a former girlfriend: “…I collect people, I own people, I can damage people.”
- Maxwell telling a friend that Epstein was a blackmail artist, and his Orgy Island was wired for audiovisual blackmail.
- Maxwell divulging to a60 Minutesproducer that Epstein had tape of both Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
- The Palm Beach Police Department found clandestine cameras when it executed a search warrant on Epstein’s Palm Beach home.
- Maria Farmer telling CBS that the bedrooms and bathrooms of Epstein’s New York mansion were wired for audiovisual surveillance, and men, as in plural, were in a secret room overseeing various monitors.
- The trove of compact discs seized at Epstein’s home with titles like “Young [Name] + [Name].” (Epstein’s cache of DVDs seem to have fallen into a blackhole.)
But the most damning evidence of Epstein working for a larger, clandestine network is the abrogation of justice that he left in his wake over the decades. Who or what has the power to order an U.S. attorney to stand down, especially when the Justice Department has a list of 32 underage victims? According to former U.S. Attorney Acosta, “intelligence” has that power. Who or what has the power to make the Justice Department subvert the Crime Victims’ Rights Act? Who or what has the power to make the FBI stand down into an investigation involving child sexual abuse? Who or what has the power to protect Epstein’s powerful pedophilic perps over the course of three administrations—those of George W. Bush, Barak Obama, and Donald Trump? The puppeteer or puppeteers in the Epstein case apparently transcend the institutions of government and also political affiliations.
In the Epstein case, child sex trafficking has been proven, and the victims have named procurers and perps. The Justice Department’sSouthern Districtof New York was able to circumvent Epstein’s egregious效能两个标准协议. First, the Southern District of New York wasn’t bound by an agreement that was made in the Southern District of Florida. Second, Congress eliminated the statute of limitations on cases of child sex trafficking in 2006, and since the prior 5-year statute of limitations hadn’t expired on Epstein’s child trafficking crimes, he could becharged with child trafficking dating back to 2002. So, every procurer and perpetrator in the Epstein network who has been guilty of child trafficking since 2002 should be charged with child trafficking.
As a society, we must bring the Epstein procurers and perpetrators to justice. We cannot let children be molested with impunity. If the Justice Department is indifferent to victims in a proven trafficking case, then there is little hope for the vast majority of victims. If the perpetrators in the Epstein case are allowed to go scot free, then all perpetrators are empowered. Moreover, the media has expended profuse ink publishing articles that report on the salacious dirt involved in the Epstein case, but I’m not aware of a single article calling for the arrest and indictment of the perpetrators in Epstein’s pedophile network. The mainstream media has also sown a narrative that the girls molested by Epstein and his cohorts were at least 14 years old, but accounts have been published that Epstein trafficked girls as young as11 or 12 years old.
As I look at the devastation sown by child sexual abuse and its cover up — whether it be by churches, the Boy Scouts, schools, the government, etc. — I’m reminded of a quote attributed to Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Are there enough good people in the media, the government, and the nation to ensure that evil doesn’t triumph in the Epstein case by holding the procurers and perpetrators accountable?